


The Library

by georgesjungle2



Category: Sanditon (TV 2019), Sanditon - Jane Austen, Welcome to Sanditon
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:34:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29368596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/georgesjungle2/pseuds/georgesjungle2
Summary: Be My Valentine ChallengeSidney meets his match.Sidolette HEA
Relationships: Charlotte Heywood/Sidney Parker
Comments: 17
Kudos: 75





	The Library

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sanditon sisterhood](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=sanditon+sisterhood).



He couldn’t believe his luck, although he supposed even bad luck was still considered a form of luck. His mentor had gotten him an intern position at the British Library. Dr. Albert Fuchs was the Director at the English department at Oxford University. His brother was married to his sister Diana and was in the medical field. Why was it bad luck?

He glanced at the brunette working the catalog desk in the philophical section. The same lady that he had some heated words with over a cup of coffee just earlier. The lady that was going to be his wife, no boss, just his boss. God, why would he even think that. Just because she was familiar with Heraclitus, and by familiar, he meant completely consumed by it and he had never met anyone like her?

He let out a sigh and walked forward after her customer had left her desk. She was looking at her monitor and didn’t see him, so he cleared his throat.

She blinked at him a few times as if she was not sure she wasn’t imagining him appearing before her. He noticed her ruined blazer was draped on her chair where it appeared she had tried to clean the coffee that had spilt on it this morning during their collision. She raised both eyebrows in a defiance move as if she was offended that he would be standing there.

“I, um,” Sidney realized he nervous. When had that ever happened, especially with a girl-lady-whatever? “Sidney Parker. I’m the new intern for the philophical section.” She gave him a blank look and then proceeded to pick up the phone. Was she calling security? Sidney glanced around.

“One of your new interns is lost,” Charlotte said in the phone. “I would give him directions, but I’m not sure he can read.”

“I can read!” Sidney snapped.

Charlotte gave him a look. “Really? I do believe the sign on the door said ‘open slowly, watch for cross traffic.” Clearly, she was still perturbed about this morning.

“I did apologize,” Sidney said rebuffing her.

“Oh, yes, the ‘watch where you are going’ apology. I do remember seeing that listed in the Idiot’s Guide to Apologies.” 

Maybe he should had just changed his mind about this as soon as he seen her. But, the experience here was what he was needing to get the position that would be vacant in a few months at the university. Working there would not only open a whole new world of career possibilities, he had put that goal on the backburner for so long after his debacle with Mrs. Campion. Thus, her pernicious influence was still lingering on his life.

He glanced at her and took a breath. “Yes, I apologize for swinging the door too fast. I did not want to be late on my first day.”

Charlotte glanced at her watch. “You are late anyway.”

Was it his fault that there was a problem at the tube? No, but judging by her look on her face, she did not care.

“Mr. Parker?” Sidney glanced over and recognized Esther Denham from Sanditon. She glanced over at Charlotte who she could tell was still fuming about the coffee debacle this morning.

“A familiar face from Sanditon.”

Esther gave him a look. Apparently, Sanditon must be a sore subject. She chose to ignore it. “Right, so if you come with me, we will get you set up with Jane so you can complete some documents and go over policies.” Sidney grabbed his bag and followed Esther. His day was not going good at all.

He walked by an ornate chess set that was clearly marked, ‘do not touch’ and it had clearly been touched. Some of the pieces were moved. He heard her let out a sigh as she set the pieces back to starting positions. She knocked on the door to Jane’s office.

“Jane, this is Sidney Parker. He’s an intern with Charlotte.” She glanced at Sidney. “I’ll leave you here with Jane. I imagine you will be here for the rest of the morning.”  
Jane looked up at Sidney and smiled. “Good morning, Mr. Parker. Please, take a seat.” Jane opened a desk drawer and handed him a clipboard. “I know, it’s a little archaic using paper forms, but we have to have manual signatures on some things. There are forms about typical HR stuff, work hours, duty uniforms, breaks,”

“Dating policies,” Sidney said musing out loud.

Jane looked at him, “well not dating policies per say, but there are some forms about sexual harassment.” She glanced at him. “After this, there is some training on using the computers, checking out materials, getting your badge and a tour. At the end of the day, there is a meet and greet where you will meet the other interns and other staff. Do you have any questions?”

Is there a way not to have to go to the meet and greet, he silently asked himself. He had told Babington and Crowe he would meet them at the bar right after work. And at the moment, he could really use a strong drink. Instead, Sidney gave her back her forms after he signed them and gave her a polite smile.

“Alright, follow me to the computer lab and I will get you started.” Jane led him to the employee elevator to the top floor. She scanned in her badge and motioned for him to sit down at the computer. “So, it is going to ask you some basic questions and it will allow you to create a user name and password. Just follow the prompts to complete the training. When you are done, Otis will escort you back to my office.” She pointed a young man that was sitting in the corner trying to appear busy in a room with just a few others.

Sidney considered himself someone that was computer and technology savvy, however, it was apparent that the library software system needed a much-needed overhaul. He cursed several times at the computer when it let off a ding. After about the fifth one, he noticed Otis was giving him a disgruntled look. Apparently, it was interfering with whatever the young man was really busy with (which was not work related Sidney could tell). He heard Otis let out a sigh as he walked over.

“Having problems?” Otis asked in his customer service voice.

“It would appear so. I’ve answered all the questions, but it doesn’t let me click on submit.”

“Are you sure you answered all the questions?” Otis asked him in a monotone, clearly it was a question he had repeated several times to others.

Sidney had to bite his tongue. Maybe, he wasn’t supposed to be here. It seemed the galaxy was working against him today. “Yes,”

“If you don’t mind, I’ll drive.” Otis said taking the mouse over from Sidney. “It seems you missed question 69.” Sidney heard the couple of young ladies just behind him to the side let out a giggle and he suppressed an eye roll. He hoped they weren’t interns. He had heard them whispering about him as soon as they sat down. He was no longer planning a couple of drinks. It was going to be a full on binge tonight. He was glad today was Friday. This weekend, maintenance was doing some sort of deep cleaning which meant a free weekend.

Otis led him back down to Jane’s office who then asked him if he wanted to eat lunch in the employee breakroom or elsewhere. He decided he needed some fresh air, so he opted to let her know he would be back after lunch. She reminded him that lunch ended at noon and he quietly mumbled to himself as he felt the fresh air of freedom hit his face. It was only a temporary feeling as he knew he would have to go back. He didn’t have time to really go far, so he opted to sit at the picnic bench under a large sycamore tree. He could eat later. He used the time to catch up on emails and let Babington/Crowe know he would probably be a little late for drinks.

He glanced around and noticed the two young ladies from the computer lab were sitting near the workers who were working on the library’s exterior. He let out a sigh and was glad he was not sitting over there. He noticed Esther walking out of the library with Charlotte and another lady that looked very similar to her. Charlotte was carrying her blazer in her arms. He wasn’t sure, but he was confident that there was a piercing glare at him behind her dark tinted glasses. At least, Esther gave him a tilt of her head in a friendly sort of way. Then again, knowing Esther, there was some sarcastic implication to it.

The rest of the afternoon went by quickly as Jane paired him at the main circulation desk with a Georgianna Lambe to learn how to check out materials. It didn’t take long before Sidney realized he did not care to be at the main circulation desk and he especially did not want to be working next to Georgianna.

It wasn’t long before he realized her boyfriend/not boyfriend was Otis from the computer lab. Apparently, they were in some sort of tiff at the moment, since if her phone wasn’t giving her a notification of a text message, the instant messenger used for librarian/staff use, was going off. Apparently, Georgianna was texting Otis on the phone but then using instant messenger with Charlotte for her advice. It was like being in the middle of a three way phone call with a bunch of teenagers.

When he glanced up to see Babington walking in with a grin, he had never been so glad in his life. Babington gave him a look, “I say there chap, I was wondering if you could help me find a book about chess.”

Sidney glanced at Georgianna who was playing on her phone. The desk wasn’t busy. “Absolutely,” he said with a smile. “Follow me.” Sidney began to walk to the left of his position.

“Wrong way Parker,” Babington said lowly. Sidney looked at him.

“Sorry, still trying to get my bearings. Wait, how in the world would you know? Doesn’t Babington Hall have the most outrageous library?”

Babington gave him a grin as he started to lead him past Charlotte’s desk. “Miss Heywood,” he gave her an affable smile. “Is it a good afternoon?”

She heard Sidney speaking with Babington as they approached. Charlotte smiled politely at Babington. It was a little game they played. If she responded it was a good afternoon, then it meant Esther was in her office. If it was a bad afternoon, she was not there. Babington had begun to bribe her with free coffee for the information as apparently he had some sort of man crush on her. 

She heard Sidney mumble about why he was asking her about her afternoon. Charlotte was still not happy about Parker being assigned to her desk. She had asked Esther at lunch if he could be reassigned. Well, if she was going to be miserable, then it was only fair play today. 

“Honestly Babington, it has been a pretty bad afternoon. I will be glad to get out of here. I just wish I could go somewhere else.” Sidney watched Babington’s face light up. Sidney looked at his friend. Was Babington flirting? With Charlotte? For crying out loud, he could have a pick of the litter. Why would he pick her? More importantly, how was he going to derail Babington from chasing Charlotte? There was only one thing he could think of.

“Well, I hope your evening gets much better. Enjoy your weekend.” Babington started to walk on and Sidney just stood there like a bump on a log.

She was furling her eyebrow at him trying to figure out what was going on.

“Have you heard of Sanditon?”

“Sanditon?”

“Yes, it’s a small seaside resort. Not but a couple of hours from here.”

“Can’t say I have.” 

Maybe, he could offer an olive branch. “My brother owns a hotel down there. I could get you a room, you know to make up for spilling coffee on you this morning.” She was  
giving him a very skeptical look. He frowned at her. “No strings or anything.”

“I don’t know.” She said reluctantly.

He let out a sigh, then went to find Babington. Of course, he knew where to find him. Babington was a glutton for punishment, talking about Esther had mentioned something about going to an Escape Room with some of her friends. Sidney had let out a snort. It had gone completely over Babington’s head that Esther was not sure she wanted to be let alone with him.

He found Babington trying to talk sweetly to Esther. Babington glanced at Parker. “Ah, I didn’t realize you already knew Parker. I thought he would be someone to go to the game room.”

Esther gave him a skeptical look. Obviously, he had not been caught up to speed. “I don’t know. Is he planning on spilling coffee all over Charlotte again?”  
Babington looked at Parker perplexed.

“It was an accident. I’ve already tried to apologize for it.” Sidney let out a sigh. “I even offered to get her a room in Tom’s new seaside resort.”

“I see you aren’t used to be told no either.”

Babington laughed. “I’m used to it! I just refuse to give up!”

“There was no quid per quo for it.” Sidney said plainly.

Babington looked at Esther. “Maybe, she doesn’t want to go by herself. How come she has not gone with you to Sanditon?”

Esther looked at him. She was not ready to become some sort of open book with Babington. She had just agreed to go on some sort of group outing with him.

“Well,” Sidney said looking at Esther, “if you can talk her into it, I will make sure Tom has a room for her.”

“Is there one of those Escape rooms in Sanditon? Maybe we can all go down for the weekend?” Babington said not wanting to lose any forward momentum he had finally got with Esther.

“If there was only a place that had that kind of information readily available,” Esther mumbled at him. Sidney looked at Esther then over to Babington.

“I better get back to my post. Don’t want my boss to think I’m slacking around on my first day.” Sidney said leaving Babington to deal with Esther. Babington could be persuasive when it came to benefiting him.

Sidney found Charlotte helping an older man, but she was a little short and needed some help as she looked to have to retrieve the ladder. “I can get that which one?” Sidney brushed up accidentally as he reached up to get the required book. He noticed Charlotte slightly blushed. Well, he thought, at least she was not completely unaffected by him.

The rest of the day flew by as Charlotte was not quite as upset with him as she had been earlier. Jane came and got him so he could do the meet and greet, then he would be free for the weekend.

All the interns had to take turns saying who they were, where they were from, what position their internship was and something that they wanted the group to know about them. When Sidney’s turn came, he went through the normal spill but dropped that he had just returned from Antigua.

He noticed Babington was walking Esther out to her car. Despite his teasing at Babington, he did hope Esther would give him a decent chance. The fact that Babington had been pursuing Esther for so long only meant that his interest was sincere. Most of the ladies Babington dated were the usual kind, no substantial conversation, interested only in his money or status. There were a half a dozen ladies that would had jumped on him the moment Babington had said hello. Esther though, she was a bird of a different color.

He noticed Charlotte by the door. He nodded his head as he started walking out the door. 

“Mr. Parker?” Charlotte said as soon as he stepped out. He turned to look at her. “I would like to apologize for speaking so harsh this morning. I am afraid I rather had a bad morning before you spilt the coffee and it just snowballed. I hope you don’t think too badly of me.”

Sidney glanced at Babington. He was beginning to think that their plan to meet up for drinks was going down the drain. He looked back at Charlotte. “You have nothing to apologize for. I was a brute this morning too. Perhaps we can rewrite our history if we find it disagreeable.” He held out his hand towards her. “Sidney Parker.”

She looked at him slightly leery, but then took his hand to shake it. “Charlotte Heywood.”

“Well, Miss Heywood, I hear you are an advocate of Escape Rooms.”

Charlotte laughed. “I was just trying to get Esther out of her melancholy. She’s been quite at a loss since her breakup with a previous boyfriend.”

His eyes glanced towards his friend who was still in conversation with Esther. “Was it serious?”

Charlotte looked at Esther. “I just think that she found out that they really weren’t compatible, no matter how hard she tried. In the end, she realized it was not going to work.”

“We’ve all been there.” Parker said absentminded thinking of his failed engagement to Eliza all those years ago. “Babington is a good fellow.”

Charlotte let out a chuckle. “I know. He should be getting some sort of sainthood for patience. I didn’t think I was every going to be able to talk her around to it.”  
Sidney let out a small smile.

“But he’s still has a long way to go. She’s not bound to make it easy for him.”

“From what I remember of Esther from grade school, I believe it. No worries though. If you give Babington even the slightest opening, he’s bound to make the most of the opportunity.”

“We should all make the best of opportunities we get,” Charlotte said as they got closer to Babington and Esther.

Sidney glanced at her. “Does that include a hotel room in Sanditon?” He gave her an inquisitive look.

There was a slight blush on her cheeks. “Well, I would be pretty stupid to pass up a weekend at the beach.”

They got to the others and were waiting for Alison to join them.

Sidney noticed there was a gleam in Babington’s eye when they got to the car. Whatever he had been discussing with Esther must have gone successfully.

In the end, Charlotte came to Sanditon for the weekend and the four of them had gone to the Escape room, got talked into dinner with Lady Denham, and probably the most awkward situation of his existence since he had returned from Antigua.

Sidney wrapped himself tighter against the warm body in his bed. He had gone swimming in his cove, but apparently, he had not been the only one with that thought that night. Charlotte had popped out of the water under the moonlight and Sidney had thought she was a mermaid. To be fair, he had a few bottles with Babington at the Crown before then.  
One thing led to another, and well, he took Charlotte’s sage wisdom to make the best of an opportunity. That had been a few weeks ago. 

Today, was Tom’s Valentine’s Day party. They had driven down last night so Charlotte could work with Mary on any last-minute changes they needed to do for the party. Mary had fallen in love with Charlotte the first day she met her. She had taken Sidney aside and told him that if he screwed this up, she would never speak to him again. His nieces and nephews loved her as well.

Compatibility. He could not believe how much he felt it with her. They still had their moments, but the passion was enough to make up for any disagreements they had. Most of the disagreements stemmed from him not being open with her. Once he figured out that he needed to let her know things, that things were so much simpler. Now, he just picked fights with her so they could kiss and make up.

He snuggled against her. “Hmm, I think I could get used to waking up like this.”

“You did at least redeem yourself from coming home so late,” Charlotte mumbled as she snuggled back against him.

“That was not my fault. I had to listen to Babington ramble off some bad lines of poetry. He’s determined to ensure Esther has a very romantic day.”

She gazed up at him with a teasing look. “Do I get any poetry Mr. Parker?”

He grinned at her. “I believe Miss Heywood that I am inclined to show you my idea of a romantic day.” Charlotte giggled as he attacked her.

Tom’s Valentine’s Day party was a smashing success, even Lady Denham said so. Of course, Babington had something to do with that as he had a private conversation with her just before the party. Parker had asked him just how he knew Esther was the one (after all, Lord Babington could have just about the pick of the litter).

Babington simply smiled at his friend. “I’m quite captivated by her. She is not like any of those simpletons in London. I prefer her sharp wit to any of them. She challenges me. I can’t imagine being with anyone else.”

“You want to tame her then?”

“I believe she has tamed me.”

Sidney glanced at Charlotte coming into the room. “Yes, I think I can imagine how that must feel.”

After the party, Sidney took Charlotte for a walk on the beach.

“Well, it’s back to London tomorrow.”

“Yes, Mary is already trying to figure out how to get me to come back for Spring Break.”

“Perhaps, our boss will be a little bit more lenient about taking some time off. If not, I’ll put a word in to a good friend of mine to persuade her.” Charlotte laughed. “Have you enjoyed your Valentine’s day?”

“I have.”

“I did not think I was ever to get you alone Miss Heywood.”

Charlotte looked at him. He was giving her a very smoldering look. “Why Mr. Parker, I think you are trying to seduce me.”

He grinned at her. “If you would had asked me a few weeks ago, I would not have believed myself to be in Sanditon, celebrating Valentine’s Day.” He stopped her. “You have made me realize that I am a good deal less than perfect. For whatever it is worth, I believe I am my best self, my truest self, when I am with you.” He took a calming breath. “I would like it very much if you would be my valentine from this day forth.” He knew he was smiling like a fool. Babington was a bad influence on him.

Charlotte smiled warmly back at him. “I would like it very much to be your valentine Mr. Parker.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
